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Methuen Councilor Bob Andrew
Seeks to Replace Broadhurst
at the State House
10/03/06
 METHUEN – Republican
City Councilor Bob Andrew wants to replace Arthur
Broadhurst in the Legislature as Methuen’s only
state representative.
As a graduate of the Methuen public school system, Andrew
has served on several boards in the city over the years,
including the conservation commission, three previous
terms on the City Council, and the Board of Trade. He is
also a member of the Salem-Methuen Rotary.
He is the owner of Andrew Travel on Hampshire Street in
downtown Methuen and Andrew Towing. He calls himself a
working man from the “school of hard knocks.”
Having been a business owner for 47 years, he says he
believes politics is not much different from the service
industry.
“I have been providing a service all my life. You
don’t sell inventory. You have no inventory. You
provide a service and I know how to do that. I have been
doing it my entire life. I have clients who have been
with me since I started in the business more than 40
years ago and they are still with me today. I know how to
provide constituent services and when I am elected to the
Legislature, everyone who calls or e-mails or even faxes
me will have their questions and concerns answered.”
Asked about where he stands on the political issues of
the day, Andrew bristled and stated that questions about
his personal opinion on issues were “unfair”
because, he said, “As a representative, my personal
opinions are really irrelevant. I am here to represent
how my constituents feel on the issues, not my own
personal agenda. I don’t mind answering questions
about where I stand on the issues, but I want to make it
clear that regardless of where I stand, if my
constituents want me to vote a certain way on an issue, I
am here to represent them. That’s why they are
called ‘representatives.’ They are supposed to
represent the people, not their own agendas. If I am
elected, that is exactly what I am going to do.”
Asked about his opinion on MCAS, Andrew says, “I am
not sure if the test is making our kids any smarter or if
it is the route we should be taking, but it is important
to have benchmarks to measure how the money we spend on
education is being used. A really good education starts
at home and with good teachers in the classroom. We never
had MCAS when I was growing up because teachers could
teach their subjects and concentrate on making sure kids
were learning. Today we have all these non-teaching
related issues being dealt with in the schools. Teachers
should be teaching, not babysitting.”
Andrew said he believes the age students are allowed to
drop out of school should be raised from 16 years old to
18. “At 16 years old, you don’t have enough of
Life 101 yet to go out into the real world and make it.
The age should be raised to 18 so that these kids have
the best shot at life.”
On merit pay for teachers Andrew said nobody should have
a job guarantee and he endorses the concept.
As the Republican in the race Andrew says he disagrees
with Democrat candidate Linda Dean Campbell on universal
health care. “I do believe everybody should have the
ability to get health care, but I don’t think
everyone should be getting their health care from the
government. As it stands,” he continued,
“we really have universal health care now. Anyone
who shows up at the hospital with no health insurance
gets taken care of at no cost to the patient. But I will
say it again, my opinion on this is really not important.
What is important is what the people of Methuen want me
to do about health care. If they want universal health
care, I will support it even if my personal opinion is
opposed.”
Asked if that means Andrew would support rolling back the
income tax to 5 percent, as mandated by the voters, or
put gay marriage on the ballot, Andrew said,
“Absolutely. If the people want it, our job is to
give it to them. The Legislature has no right to refuse
to service the voters. You have to give the people what
they want.”
Andrew did have very strong opinions on the issues of
illegal aliens getting driver’s licenses and
in-state tuition rates in Massachusetts. “Illegal
aliens are not here legally. They are not supposed to be
here. Giving in-state tuition to someone who isn’t
sup-posed to be here in the first place is just
ridiculous. If illegal aliens want a license or in-state
tuition, I say become a legal resident or citizen of the
United States and then you can get your license and your
tuition rates lowered.”
On local issues, Andrew said he was the original champion
of the Rte. 93 rotary, “Which has been in the works
since I was a councilor in the 1990s. I started the
project with Arthur Broadhurst and the Massachusetts
engineer. Because of term limits, I couldn’t
continue my service on the City Council and one of my
successors who is running for this seat seems to think
that she can claim credit for it. But the plan to bridge
Lowell St. to Rte. 110 (Lowell Blvd.) was included in the
project we worked on to redesign the Route 93 rotary when
I was a councilor.”
Andrew says he would like to see more work done on Rte.
28 (Broadway). “I see no work being done at all on
the Rte. 28 bridge and that needs to be done immediately.
As the new state representative, I will make sure it gets
done. Rte. 28 is a state road and I will get it
done,” he said.
Andrew says he is pro-life and when we asked him what he
would do if the people of Methuen wanted him to vote in
favor of abortion, he winced and said, “Wow. That
would probably be the hardest decision of my life. I feel
very strongly about that for some very personal reasons,
but I think in the end if the people wanted me to vote
for it, I would. My word is my word and when I give my
word I keep it. I would, however, campaign hard against
it, especially if it were a ballot measure, but again I
am here to serve the people not my own agenda. That one
would be very hard, though. I hope I never encounter
that.”
Andrew also said he favors easing restrictions and
regulations on auto insurance companies so that discount
auto insurers can do business in Massachusetts.
“There is nothing wrong with competition,” he
said. “Whether you are a newspaper or a towing
company or an insurance company, competition is healthy.
If an insurance company wants to offer discounted rates,
they ought to be able to.”
Andrew also says he thinks the structure of auto
insurance rates should be changed so that good drivers do
not get penalized because of their zip codes. “We
have to remodel how the rates are structured. You should
be charged based on your driving record, not where you
live. If you are a good driver, you should be charged a
cheaper rate - not some inflated rate based on where you
live or how badly your neighbors drive.” On the
condition of Methuen High School, Andrew said he favored
renovating it and using it as an elementary school.
“My opinion is that we have a lot of overcrowding in
the elementary grades and we should turn that building
into a grade school and build a new high school.”
He also said he thinks that the 40B law (Massachusetts
state law requiring a minimum amount of low income
housing in every community) needs to be changed. “It
needs to be more fair for every community,” he said.
“If we are truly raising quality of life for people
then that is one thing, but I suspect this is only
increasing the housing numbers and even poor people are
not seeing an increase in their quality of life. Zoning
laws should be tailored to the individual communities
because every community is different. On the other hand,
I do not support snob zoning. The zoning laws should be
fair and the people should have a say as to how that is
done. It shouldn’t be dictated by the people on
Beacon Hill.”
Asked if being a Republican in Democrat-dominated
Massachusetts would be a hindrance if he was elected, he
said, “No. It doesn’t matter if you’re a
Democrat or a Republican. People shouldn’t vote
party, they should vote their conscience. That is what I
plan to do when I am on Beacon Hill. I never vote party
over person and I think the people of Methuen will be
looking at who is on the ballot on Election Day, not
their parties. I only hope they will take this with them
when they vote. A vote for Bob Andrew is a vote to
represent Methuen’s priorities in the State House -
instead of having an elected official who is representing
the priorities of the State House in Methuen!”
Andrew faces Democrat Linda Dean Campbell and independent
Ken Henrick in November.
To read interviews from the other candidates, you can
visit www.valleypatriot.com.
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The October, 2006
Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
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All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
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